Astroworld Festival: Authorities are investigating the causes behind a deadly crowd surge at the music festival in Houston

news7g11/07/2021

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Astroworld Festival: Authorities are investigating how audience members were not able to escape a deadly crowd surge

The Friday night time crowd on the sold-out Astroworld Competition, headlined and arranged by rapper Travis Scott, was so tightly packed that when viewers members have been pushed towards the stage, some advised CNN that they have been crushed to the purpose the place they could not breathe and handed out.

One safety officer was struck within the neck through the live performance whereas attempting to restrain an viewers member.

“When he was examined, he went unconscious. They administered Narcan,” Houston Police Chief Troy Finner mentioned Saturday of the safety officer. “He was revived, and the medical employees did discover a prick much like what you’ll get if anyone was attempting to inject. That’s one a part of it.”

There have been a number of different incidents Friday the place the drug was administered, Houston Fireplace Chief Sam Peña mentioned.

Narcan is a drug used to deal with narcotic overdoses.

Different makes an attempt to save lots of lives included some folks administering CPR. Former Marine Lucas Naccarati mentioned he carried out CPR on two individuals who handed out.

“That was a unique world. I instantly thought, ‘This isn’t OK. Somebody goes to die right here,” he advised CNN. “I’ve by no means seen a mass quantity of our bodies dropping that quick earlier than.”

The victims who died embody a 14-year-old

With 50,000 folks in attendance at NRG Park — the stadium advanced the place the Astrodome and the NRG Stadium stand — the group surge began after 9 p.m. on Friday.

“The group for no matter cause started to push and surge in direction of the entrance of the stage, which brought about the folks within the entrance to be compressed — they have been unable to flee that state of affairs,” Peña advised CNN.

Travis Scott speaks out after Astroworld Festival tragedy

The chaos despatched not less than 25 folks to the hospital, and 13 of them remained there Saturday afternoon, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner mentioned. 5 of them are underneath the age of 18, he mentioned.

The ages of the victims who died ranged from 14 to 27, and the age of 1 one who was killed stays unknown, Turner mentioned.

The causes of their deaths are pending the medical expert’s willpower, Peña mentioned.

Officers mentioned they may evaluate video from the scene and assess how the venue was laid out as a part of the investigation into the tragedy .

The investigation will cowl “what brought about, one, the problem of the group surge, and two, what prevented folks from having the ability to escape that state of affairs,” Peña mentioned Saturday.

Travis Scott says he is 'devastated' after 8 people died during his Astroworld Festival

“We’re actually the entire video footage, we’re speaking to witnesses, we’re speaking to occasion organizers,” Turner advised CNN on Saturday.

Scott was on the outside stage when he paused and seemed on the crowd in confusion as an ambulance with flashing lights moved by way of the viewers, according to a video of the occasion.

On Saturday, Scott posted on his Instagram account’s story that he is sending out prayers to the lives misplaced, including that he is been working with Houston authorities.

“I am actually simply devastated,” Scott mentioned as he repeatedly sighed and rubbed his brow. “We’re truly working proper now to determine the households so we may also help help them by way of this robust time.”

A memorial was established for victims who died at the Astroworld Festival at NRG Park in Houston.

‘Like we have been drowning in a pool crammed of simply folks’

With scores of individuals injured as they have been pushed toward the stage, some viewers members advised CNN that they could not breathe and thought they could die.

Sarai Sierra, who went to the competition to have fun her birthday, mentioned she noticed a number of individuals who couldn’t breathe after Scott appeared on stage.

“I actually thought that if I fell it will’ve been the top of me. I spent not less than quarter-hour simply getting pushed round as a consequence of mosh pits or just because folks have been ‘raging,'” Sierra mentioned.

'Beyond your control.' The recipe for a deadly crowd crush

Sierra, who attended the competition with family and friends, added that she noticed about 20 individuals who couldn’t breathe, together with one one who suffered a seizure earlier than her eyes.

“It felt like we have been drowning in a pool crammed of simply folks,” she mentioned.

Nick Johnson and Angel Rodriguez, who additionally went to the competition, mentioned a crowded ambiance constructed up over an prolonged time frame.

“It was occurring for over two hours,” Johnson mentioned. “It simply received worse and worse, everybody’s like, you simply cannot breathe, you simply really feel like there is a weighted blanket on you.”

And as soon as folks have been pushed towards the stage, respiration received more difficult, Rodriguez defined.

“Once you get pushed again, folks at all times fall over,” Rodriguez mentioned.

In 2019, the Astroworld Competition noticed the same incident when hundreds rushed to get into the competition. Three people were trampled and hospitalized

Officers ramped up safety after the 2019 trampling incident, gearing 528 Houston law enforcement officials on the live performance and a further 755 personal safety personnel, the police chief mentioned.

CNN’s Keith Allen, Holly Yan, Gregory Lemos, Melissa Alonso, Maya Brown, Jenn Selva, Andy Rose, Artemis Moshtaghian, Jason Hanna and Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report.

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